Lightning In My Wake (The Lightning Series) (16 page)

“Are you okay,” I hummed against her ear. A shiver rustled through her at the nearness.

“Yes,” she sighed out.

With
my hands on her hips, I drew her closer. The bag in her hand was enormous and I recognized it as one of Collins’ bags. Finally, we arrived at the seventh floor and we exited, the trio of us making great haste toward our rooms. I jutted a key toward Collin and he took it in question.

“Give us five minutes and then we need to talk.”

He went into his room without hesitation and I drug Colby behind me into our room. As soon as the door was shut, all bets were off.

I shoved her against the closest wall and pinned both of her hands above her, “Don’
t do that to me again. Promise.”

All the pink blush from her cheeks intensified both from the adrenaline of flashing and, I hoped, from the position I now held her in.

“Okay, okay.”

“No,” I demanded, pulsing my hips against hers in an uncharacteristic show of alpha male claim. “Say it. Promise me. Your word has always been true. Say it.”
I never broke my stare from her eyes. She needed to know that no matter what, from then on, us, separated, just was not going to happen. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths as she composed herself enough to submit to what I insisted she comply with.

“I promise. But I had to get the books.”

“You stole the books! The books from Pema? You stole them?”

She smirked at me. Usually I would’ve found that particular smirk endearing, but in that moment, I found it annoying.

“She said we had three days. She didn’t specify anything else. We still have two days with them.”

I opened my mouth several times to
argue with her, but even I had to admit she had a valid point. Giving up on a pointless argument, I gave up and marked my relent by resting my forehead against hers and letting go of my hold on her arms. The relief flooded me.

“I was worried.”

“It was ten seconds.”

“Felt like a lot more, Querida. Eu sempre vou me preocupar.” I ghosted my nose along the perimeter of her face, breathing her in. She smelled like the mountains we just left mixed with her own scent. I reveled in the sensation of being this close to her again. Our hearts were pounding together. Before long, Colby’s hands were in my hair. The atmosphere around us changed and the desperation of my worry converted into something raw, an emotion that could only be expressed through our bodies—through my mouth on hers.

Kissing Colby was like witnessing a miracle. It couldn’t be explained by any rational hypothesis or theory. Science would never do it justice. Every caress of her lips touched my heart and tugged at my soul. I felt the peak of desperation grow after only a few seconds. It was the moment where she craved something closer. Her hands grew greedy and painfully grasped at my hair. It fueled me on. A whimper broke free of her as I pulled back slightly, outlining her heart shaped top lip with my tongue.

Every time I kissed her, I thought I’d die right there, from pure, unadulterated bliss.

We were both breathless when I began to slow down. She deflated with her face buried against my chest.

“God, I missed that,” she said and we both laughed.

Combing my fingers through her hair, I kissed her temple and her cheek. “I did too. How many did you steal?”

“Only four. I grabbed the ones that Collin said hadn’t been touched.”

“Good ole Collin.”

She looked up at me, “Theo, how did they find us?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. But we need to find out. Let’s go talk to Collin.”

“Yeah.”

Chapter Sixteen

Colby

The Resin are not to be trusted.

Collin was pacing by the time we got into his room.

“How?”

“We don’t know. Someone is either tracking us—or someone we think we can trust can’t be trusted.”

I lounged on one of Collin’s beds. It irked Theo how comfortable I was with Collin. I could just tell.

“Who did you tell?”

The question was directed at me along with his pointer finger. I wondered why the speculation was pointed at me. He was the one who was in constant contact with Pema without our knowledge.

“I told my mother, and my two friends, that’s all. All three are trustworthy.”

The Viking was always teetering on the edge between me loving him like a brother and me wanting to send him to Valhalla.

“Obviously not!”

The redness now apparent on my face was no longer from our tryst in the other room, but from anger. How dare he accuse my friends, or worse, my mother of such treachery.

“And you, Mr. Guardian? Let’s not forget it’s you who works directly for the Synod. Maybe it’s you that’s been feeding them information. We all know they have spies in the Resin.”

Collin grabbed his chest. I’d fatally wounded him with my accusation. I didn’t really believe he would rat us out. But my hurt feelings at being the prime suspect made me retaliate.

“I would
never. I know who Theodore is.”

Poor guy, I’d really hurt him. I did that with my big mouth, often.

“You told Sway,” Theo whispered, looking down at his shoes.
One clump of hair had fallen out of place, like it was ashamed to be associated with what he had to say. His shoes always became interesting when he was telling me something he thought I would react strongly to. Accusing Sway of ratting us out to the Escuro was going too far. I wouldn’t even entertain the thought.

“Sway is my dearest friend besides Ari and you. There’s no way.”

How dare he. It was one thing to make broad accusations in my direction, but to directly implicate Sway. Sway was amazing. Yes, she’d been distraught after everything, but crying out traitor was a whole different can of worms.

My phone buzzed in my pocket while Theo and Collin went back and forth on several other outlandish tangents. I pulled it out to check and my day went from
flirty to full on whore in five seconds flat.

“What,” Theo eyed my change of expression.

I threw myself back on the bed in a dramatic fashion and held out my phone for him to see.

“What did you do,” he half accused, half
joked.

“I can’t even think of anything this time other than all this,” I swirled a circle with my finger indicating the mess with Theo.

I felt a hefty depression on the bed and looked up to see Collin had sat next to me, “You must be prudent and respectful. Go in and be completely humble.”

And then I fell off the bed laughing.

“What is so funny, female? Is respect and decency something to be laughed at?”

“Colby hasn’t been anything but arrogant and
sarcastic to the Synod in her life. Plus, she wouldn’t know prudent if it jumped out of the ocean and bit her in the ass.”

“Hey!”

“How long do you have?”

That was the thing about the Synod. When they said jump, it was common knowledge that you responded with how high, how long and what you should wear while you’re jumping. Of course, I was a little rebellious. If they told me two hours, I flashed in
one hour and fifty nine minutes. On the outside, I played it cool. But the Synod was a scary bitch—or bitches. It was made up of seven Lucents who had been together so long, that my mother and I joked that their menstrual cycles were probably in sync.

At least, they always seemed to be PMSing when I visited.

“I have two hours. I need a shower. I smell like Tibet.”

“Are we going to plan this or are you just going to go in there and insult them?”

Theo and I both spoke at once, “Insult them.”

Ignoring the pleas of Collin, I went into the other room and quickly showered. I changed into my most unimpressive outfit. My rebellious attitude came from my mother. And she got hers from Rebekah. I didn’t even know why I went and answered their ludicrous questions. I wasn’t afraid of them.

Mean Girls made these ladies look like puppies.

I threw on a toddler sized white t-shirt and tied it in the front and paired it with a long black maxi skirt. Flip flops made me look even more like a hippie. I put on every single bracelet I owned.

Next was my favorite part. Regina, one of the Synod tried to pass a law in the sixties about
Lucents’ outward appearance. It included the overuse of make-up and big hair.

So every
time I went there, I used enough eyeliner to offend Lady Gaga.

“Are you still doing that,” Theo leaned against the bathroom threshold. I applied a lethal amount of black eyeliner and then added a thick layer of smoke eye
shadow to carry the effect all the way to completely offensive.

“Yes. What are they going to do?”

“Um, sell you to the Resin?”

“Ha, ha, ha. You think it looks sexy and you don’t want me to waste all this on the Synod.”

“So true. But hey, Colby?”

“Yeah.”

He was the epitome of cool, calm and collected. Or so he showed on the outside.

“Don’t piss them off, okay? And if they ask you—if they ask
specific questions about me, just tell them. Don’t try to lie or get yourself tangled in something you can’t get out of.”

I smirked at him through the mirror, “Please, I’m like their golden child. They like to call me in to make me feel like I’m under their thumb. But they know better.”

“Colby, meu Amada, please.”

The eyeliner got thrown into my makeup bag and I hopped up on the counter, now facing him.

“You know what I know about you,” I said kicking my legs against the cabinets.

He shrugged one shoulder.

“I know that when you’re exterior is cool that you are worried as hell inside.”

Theo rolled his eyes, “
Is it so wrong to be worried about my female?”

When he called me his female, my insides turned to pudding.

“There’s nothing to worry about. I promise to be perfectly diplomatic, polite, disconnected and completely vague.”

“
You lie so sweetly. But, I know better. Come back to me quickly, Querida.” He approached me then, placing kisses along my face, across my forehead and on my temple.

“I will.”

```

Flashing into the Synod’s meeting room was akin to
going to the dentist. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing in the world. The people there were all smiley, even when they popped on the masks and cranked up the drill. But you knew that if you could just get the whole thing over with, you’d be relieved. And maybe, if you were lucky, it would be a full six months before your postcard came in the mail.

The only punishment they’d ever really handed down was restraining me
from flashing for a month or so at a time. Enduring the punishment was itchy, kinda like having restless leg syndrome all the time, but I dealt with it. Why I dealt with it, I’d never know. The only real power they had was threatening to hand us over to the government. It wasn’t even clear how they came into so much power. I assumed it was the same as any other society. Somewhere along the line, after they decreed the prophets null and void, the ones who spoke the loudest got together and decided they were in charge.

The loudest voi
ces weren’t necessarily right. They were just louder.

We were all scared to be given over to those who would take our gifts from us.

Fear was the biggest conduit of false respect.

The place was intimidating, I’d give them that. You could only flash directly into the ‘welcoming room’ which wasn’t all that welcoming.
The place was the opposite of welcoming. It read more like Hannibal Lector’s lair than reigning leaders of our people. It was all gold. Gold wallpaper lined the walls, golden chairs were stuck into corners, and a platinum chandelier with attitude gave you the first impression of the Synod.

It was all façade.

Regina opened the door seconds after I flashed inside and further summoned me with a flick of her wrist. She was cold and aloof as usual. There was no point in making small talk with her. Her tight red suit and ruby choker kept her from making any sudden noises or forming words without sneering. All that platinum hair dye had probably infiltrated her brain as well.

There was once a rumor that she was involved with a male Resin.

I mimicked the curt pop of her hips as we walked. Now wonder these people were always in such a bad mood. There were enormous sticks up their asses and their skin tight skirts stopped them from removing them. My hip popping turned into a dance by the time we got all the way down the embellished hallway. My nervous energy was on overdrive. I didn’t know what to expect. Other than knowing that Theo was the Eidolon, I hadn’t done anything wrong—really.

All conversation halted when I walked in. The
other two cleared their throats and fake straightened papers. I covered a smile with my fist. Did they knew they looked like uptight news reporters when they did that?